Seafood dinner - Phuket

About: Holiday at Phuket (1st night dinner)
When: 9 July 2014
Where: Rawai Landing Pier and Gypsy restaurant
The Deal: Nil

Our search for food lead us to Rawai Landing Pier, what we have in mind is a seafood dinner!

We decided to take a walk down Rawai Landing Pier before dinner.

There is a market along the seaside selling very fresh seafood. Basically the idea is to purchase your choice of seafood and bring it to the restaurant and have them cook for you for a small fee.

 Stalls around the market

 

 We got 500g clams 

 500g of big size prawns 

 And 2 sotong

Total cost for fresh seafood: 450B

Well we didn't decide/find a restaurant hahaha the owner of Gypsy "found us", he is a Singaporean! He overheard our conversion (talking like a Singaporean :p) and asked if we will be interested to dine at his restaurant.

So along with our fresh seafood buy, he show us to a table and start recommending how should we cook them. 

 For the prawn, stir fry with black pepper top with fried garlic (taste like Singapore style black pepper crab :d) Cooking charge: 75B

Clams was stir fry with sweet chilli and basil (on the spicy side) Cooking charge: 90B

No picture of the sotongs which are cooked with basil also. Cooking charge: 75B

 Service is fast, 15mins after our seafood went into the kitchen food start appearing on the table! We added 2 more side dishes, stir fry morning glory (200B) minced chicken with raw vegetable (250B) from the restaurant's menu. Our drinks cost 350B and 1 plate of rice 30B. 
Total cost: 1,520B (Not cheap but its a lot of food)
We could have ordered 1 or 2 less dishes since there is only the 2 of us eating lol but we are on a holiday!

The food here taste normal nothing to scream and shout about, but it is very fresh. Service is good and we enjoy chatting with the owner.


Verdict: If you are in the area and looking for a seafood dinner, why not drop by!

Holiday Inn Express - Phuket

About: Phuket stay
When: 9 -12 July 2014
Where: Holiday Inn Express Phuket (Patong) (Website: http://www.hiexpress.com)
Cost: We booked via agoda and cost about 2,700 THB per night include breakfast
Room: 2410

I have to write about this stay as it was 1 of the best hotel stay I have experience! 

(Keeping in mind we visit during low season so I'm not sure if the service standard is the same during high season)

The hotel is locate at Patong Beach but on a quieter part of Patong. We had very nice quiet stay throughout, and yet its only a 10mins walk away to Bangle Street.

Non air-condition but airy lobby, check in/out was fast and easy.

 There are computers in the lobby for guests to use.

 The pool is not very big, but since its low season it doesn't matter.

 Pool view from our room.

 The inside of our room. Its clean and just the right size for the both of us.

Very comfy king size bed

After my experience at Bangkok's Novotel, I want to add that Holiday Inn express does not have an in room bar, the fridge was left empty for guests to stock it with their own buy. Really a plus point for Holiday Inn Express! (Click here for my experience at Novotel Siam)

Breakfast is included for all guests. It is simple with few selection, but good enough as I enjoy all 3 days of breakfast.

 Coffee, tea and hot coco drink machine.

The hotel provides takeaway cups for guests that are rushing for their tours (very thoughtful!) 

And yes! we did took some drinks with us the morning we check out to drink on the way to the airport (happy).

The hotel also has umbrellas for loans (Lucky we took 1 out with us on the 3rd day).

Beach towels are also available for loan. We took it along for our day trip and also to the beach ^^v

The hotel also provided free ice and there is a washing machine room (in case any guest needs to do their laundry)

Verdict: We will be back!

Island Hopping (Full day tour) - Phuket

About: Phuket Holiday
When: 10 July 2014
Where: Phi Phi Island 
Cost: 1200 THB per person 

We book this day trip at at small tour counter near our hotel the day before.

The tour program

This full day tour includes return transfers, lunch and drinks (Water and soft drink for the whole day). 

The morning pick up was at 8am by a tour van, the ride to the pier took about 45mins. 

The tour company is Phuket Absolute Marine.

 The guide explaining the trip to us and briefing us the dangers of the water around Phi Phi islands. We are given the opportunity to buy bread (for fish feeding), then off we go.

Our ride for the day.

With the strong winds the sea was very choppy, the 1 hour ride to reach our 1st stop seems longer than 1 hour!! When the boat start to slow down I was very glad it's over (Note to self always check season before planing another Beach holiday :p) But once we reach Phi Phi island the water is more calm.

DO TAKE NOTE: You will get wet on a speed boat there is no where to hide lol, be prepare. Bring waterproof bag for your belongings and dress to get drenched.

1st stop: Monkey Beach

We stayed on the boat and took a few photos of the monkeys as the monkeys are aggressive and the tour's company policy is not to let their customers down (in case of monkeys attack)

2nd stop: Phi Leh Lagoon

The boat stop here for 30mins (this lagoon is already filled with other tour boats some are blasting music and having a party). This stop is clam water for swimming, some op to jump off from the front of the boat (which was very fun) while some took the steps from the back. Others stay on the boat for a tan.

3rd stop: Loh Sa Ma Bay for snorkelling

Another 30mins stop. As it is open water with strong currents it was advised that only strong swimmers should go snorkelling. The tour guide throw some bread to attract the fishes, the fishes will come out and swim along side us. The water was clear enough to see the fishes. It was very fun!

4th stop: Lunch on Phi Phi island

 Buffet style lunch with free flow tea and coffee. The food don't really look nice but taste wise was not too bad (all non spicy), not sure if its because of all the activities and I was just too hungry :p

View from the restaurant's window.

5th stop: It is suppose to be Maya Bay but the water was too choppy and the boat can't bring us there (very sad, I was told that Maya Bay is very beautiful) So skip to last stop Khai Island.

  Renting of 2 beach chairs cost 150 THB. We paid as we would like to sit out on the beach but in the shade. Some tourists op to sit at the back or on the beach (which is free).

 The crew on our tour started cutting up fruits and serving cold drinks (which is inclusive in the tour package).

 Its a small island, I took a stroll around the whole island taking in the sea breeze and sights.

The day ended at around 4.30pm, and we took the return transfer back to our hotel. It was peak hours it took us more then 1 hour to reach our hotel.